The castle is shown with reflections in the centre middle ground, beyond an inlet, with hills in the distance, left. In the foreground a woman plays with two children. There are boats on the water and a prominent tree to the right - all in a sunset light.

Caernarvon Castle, the birthplace of the first Prince of Wales, was built by Edward I. Wilson painted several views of it which vary in topographical accuracy. In this version the landscape has been manipulated to create a balanced, frieze-like composition. The emphasis here is on the transience of human achievement. A mother and children play in front of the decayed symbol of oppression.

Related Subjects

Related Drawings

Related Prints

E27 William Byrne after Wilson, Caernarvon Castle, The British Museum, and other impressions

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Critical commentary

Although Wilson's painted views of Caernarvon Castle include at least one that pre-dated his years in Italy, he seems to have toured in Wales in 1764 or 1765 and may have revisited the site then. Once again, however, he has modified the castle's topography and architecture so as to conform more closely to an idealised classical model.

Infra-red reflectography shows some reworking of the composition to remove a tree lower in the left corner and a tower of the castle.The latter shows more clearly in an X-ray image. On the evidence of the craquelure in the sky and of a cross-section the sky has been reworked by the artist.